10 years ago, Ferrari launched the FXX, an Enzo-based, track-only monstrosity that you couldn’t bring home to mother. No, literally, you couldn’t. Maranello retained custody of the unholy beasts, hauling them to events for owners to race against each other. Hailed as a pinnacle of Ferrari tech, of sorts—a crowdfunded R&D program, one might say—the XX program continued with a 599 variant. Ferrari has now unveiled the third car in the program’s history, the LaFerrari-based FXX K. €2.5 million (roughly $3 million) buys you the car and two years of Ferrari’s stewardship. It’s also perhaps the most mind-bending thing to roll out of Maranello since the F40 set us on our ears more than a quarter-century ago. We went to Abu Dhabi to see the latest, craziest horse prance around the Yas Marina Circuit. Here’s what we learned.
Ferrari claims the FXX K laps its 1.862-mile Fiorano test circuit in 1 minute, 14 seconds. That’s five seconds quicker than a LaFerrari. We asked what a LaFerrari on slicks might do, and Ferrari product marketing director Nicola Boari suggests that gumballs would be good for perhaps a second. The other four ticks are due to the extreme aero mods and additional power.
The FXX K’s naturally aspirated V-12 makes 848 horsepower, while 187 electric ponies arrive courtesy of Ferrari’s HY-KERS kinetic-energy recovery system. Total system output is 1036 horses. That’s 86 more than the 950-hp LaFerrari, previously the most powerful car Maranello had fobbed off on semi-average Giuseppes. The K in the name, rationally enough, stands for “KERS”.
Forty examples are in the pipe. All are spoken for. Which means you’re out of luck unless somebody decides to sell.
The now-traditional steering-wheel "manettino" knob controls the chassis and throttle response, while the console-mounted KERS knob controls regeneration and output. The four-position switch’s most aggressive regenerative setting can recharge the system in less than one lap.
After spending time around it, we’ll buy their assertion. To our eye, the K actually seems like what we wish the LaFerrari had been. It makes the Enzo-based FXX look like a crude hack-job—and the 599 variant look like somebody paraded his steed through a Pep Boys at hot-glue gunpoint. With its unique LED headlamps and more-aggressive front/rear fascias, this XX has a look all its own. For something so festooned with vents, scoops, and winglets, the K actually has a rather clean, cohesive look.
During our time at Yas Marina, we heard Ferrari Challenge cars, V-8 and V-10 F1 machines, GT-class 458s, and all manner of roadgoing Ferraris lapping the circuits. The XX cars, with their uncorked V-12s, echoed off the walls of the Viceroy hotel in as mean and thrilling a manner as anything we heard that weekend. You want Maximum Ferrari? This thing will give you all the Ferrari you can shake a bundle of gilded sticks at.
Once you’re done with your initial two years of racing support, Ferrari will extend the plan for a fee. At the moment, it has yet to decide on the amount of said fee. Product marketing director Boari notes that instead of the two events per season included in the previous program, “We’ve increased the number of events this time. It’s around eight. It’s the first time we’re offering two full seasons in the price.”
The first race will be in late spring, “Around May,” says Boari. Ferrari expects 10 to 15 FXX Ks to be ready to participate in the event.
You can buy a used FXX or 599XX and step into the program that way. Ferrari sees it as a way to dip a toe into the water and see if the XX series is something owners would like to pursue. Maranello will helpfully connect prospective buyers and sellers.
Speaking of the car’s aero, Boari points out, “This car has an aerodynamic efficiency of 2.84. A Formula 1 car is 3.” It is said to create nearly 1200 pounds of downforce at 124 mph. Active aero means the car applies only as much as is needed to keep the car stuck to the track. A rear spoiler rises to meet the winglets mounted on vertical stabilizers.
“History tells that after two years, we are ready to do something else,” Boari explains. The 599, you might remember, arrived after the Enzo, containing much of the knowledge the company had gleaned during the hypercar’s development—and it carried a variant of the Enzo’s motor between its front fenders. The LaFerrari is so far beyond the F12berlinetta, we can only assume that Maranello is planning an even more extreme version of its flagship supercar, rather than an F12-based XX. Dang.
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